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SEATTLE 鈥� The stately home overlooking the city from Queen Anne鈥檚 Bigelow Avenue North is where Geneva MacDonald, a legal secretary with a 鈥減assion for gardening,鈥� was killed with a hatchet in 1990.
Then there鈥檚 the nondescript grassy patch off 23rd Avenue in the Central District. That鈥檚 where up-and-coming rock star Mia Zapata was found slain on July 7, 1993.
And the brick building in the Chinatown International District with the chained and padlocked doors unopened for 30 years? That鈥檚 the former gambling club where 13 people were killed in what remains the U.S.鈥檚 worst robbery-massacre, says 鈥淛ake鈥� Jacobson, the owner and operator of Private Eye Tours.
For the past 13 years, Jacobson has been running tours of the darker side of Seattle, the one rarely seen during excursions to the Pike Place Market, the Space Needle or the waterfront. It鈥檚 an unusual view of city history, with stops at sites of some of Seattle鈥檚 most infamous murders and purported hauntings.
Jacobson concedes it鈥檚 not for the squeamish, and some have questioned creating tourist attractions of tragic scenes. One victims鈥� advocate believes Jacobson is capitalizing on the misery of others.
But there鈥檚 no denying that innate human curiosity, not to mention interest in the macabre, has kept Private Eye Tours in business.
鈥淚 think the human is a curious creature,鈥� agrees author Ann Rule, who has made a living documenting Northwest crime. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the best of our motivations, but it鈥檚 instinctual.鈥�
Jacobson has two tours that cover what she calls Seattle鈥檚 haunted sites, which include a home in Georgetown believed to be inhabited by the spirit of a woman named Sarah; a Georgetown park built over what was the cemetery for the city鈥檚 poor farm and hospital; and the former University District boarding house of serial killer Ted Bundy.
In addition, she offers two murder and mystery tours. One, on Capitol Hill, includes stops at the home where Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994; the home of the Goldmark family, whose four members were murdered on Christmas Eve in 1985; and a section along the Lake Union waterfront, where a womanizing antiques dealer, Raoul Guy Rockwell, is said to have killed his wife and stepdaughter in the early 1960s.
The fourth of Jacobson鈥檚 three-hour tours covers Queen Anne, Pioneer Square and the Chinatown International District, the site of the infamous Wah Mee Massacre.
Jacobson says she has been accosted more than once by people with ties to the crimes, including neighbours, or people who have bought houses where crimes have occurred.
鈥淚 try to be sensitive and I don鈥檛 usually park right in front of the houses if people are living there,鈥� she says.
Marge Martin, executive director of Victim Support Services, a nonprofit that helps crime survivors, says tours such as Jacobson鈥檚 are disturbing.
鈥淭he loved ones of homicide victims don鈥檛 ever get over their victimization,鈥� Martin says. 鈥淲hen these kinds of things happen, it is much more than an invasion of privacy, it can take you right back to the moment.鈥�
Scott Michaels, the owner of Southern California鈥檚 Dearly Departed Tours, which offers tours to the death sites of Hollywood celebrities, says: 鈥淢y response to people who don鈥檛 get it is, I don鈥檛 get stamp collecting but I don鈥檛 judge people who do it.鈥�
Private Eye Tours was started in 1997 by Windsor Olson, a former private investigator. Jacobson began working for him in 2001 and eventually took over the business.
Curiosity is what led Susan Rosario to seats on Private Eye Tours recently with her husband, two adult sons and daughter-in-law. They each paid $28.
Jacobson picked them up in her 15-passenger Ford van at a parking lot in South Lake Union and headed off on a three-hour tour. In addition to driving, Jacobson offers narration throughout the tour, which includes drive-bys and stops at various sites.
She spun by the former Bigelow Avenue home of 鈥減oor Geneva MacDonald,鈥� whose murder set off a six-month manhunt and terrorized the city. It ended with the arrest of James Cushing, then 36, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jacobsen next headed to the Space Needle, where a Mrs. Lee owned a popular restaurant near its base.
Mrs. Lee disappeared one night, along with that night鈥檚 receipts and a closely guarded special-sauce recipe. She was later found slain. The money and recipe were gone, and the case was never solved.
In the Chinatown International District, Jacobson parked her white van next to a squat brick building with a wooden lattice and padlocked steel doors. She lets her passengers out.
They gather around as she tells them what happened the night of Feb. 18, 1983, at the Wah Mee Club.
The Wah Mee was an illegal gambling den. Willie Mak went to the club with two accomplices, Benjamin Ng and Tony Ng (no relation). They forced the 14 people inside the club to the floor, hogtied them and shot them at close range. One man survived.
Mak and Benjamin Ng were convicted of 13 counts of aggravated murder and will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Tony Ng, convicted of aggravated robbery and assault, is seeking release from prison after 30 years.
Jacobson invited her passengers to peer through a glass peephole. A dusty tableau of overturned tea cups and other evidence of chaos appeared untouched by time. 鈥淥nce the bodies were gone and the police were done, the doors were closed and padlocked, and have never been opened again,鈥� Jacobson said.
On the web: privateeyetours.com.
